Some epidemiological aspects of intestinal parasites in women workers before going abroad

A study was conducted in Jakarta on 903 women workers before going abroad through stool examination by Ritchie's technical method. Of the women workers studied, 640 subjects (70.87%) were found to be infected with intestinal parasites either helminthes, protozoa or combination. Out of those infected, 451 (70.47%) subjects were infected with intestinal helminthes, namely Ascaris lumbricoides (38.13%), Trichuris trichiura (28.13%), a combination of Necator americanus and Ancylostoma duodenale (13.59%) and Enterobius vermicularis (4.84%). In addition 319 (49.84%) subjects were infected with intestinal protozoa namely Giardia lamblia (22.03%), Entamoeba histolytica (14.53%), Blastocystis hominis (6.56%) and Entamoeba coli (6.72%). The youngest age to be affected was 14 years old (14.19% of the subjects studied). Majority (72.09%) of the study subjects received junior high school level of education. Home yard (46.51%) and ground under the trees (22.09%) were places favourable for the habits of defaecation, whereas garbage disposal took place in 52.33% home yards and 25.58% creeks. This study revealed that various life style habits and indiscriminate defaecation were the causes of the continuous transmission of intestinal parasitic infections. The different parasites that were found in women workers before going abroad relate to the various epidemiological aspects of intestinal parasites in women workers in Indonesia who came from different islands in the country and possessed different life style patterns, socioeconomic status, geographical condition and cultures.